Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Luxembourg and from Lagos.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1967 to 1975.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Taipei and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Lagos kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the arpeggiator sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Theoretical Girls to the grunge kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Lafayette Afro Rock Band. All the underground hits.
All The Motions tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grunge hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sonic Youth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Martian,
John Coltrane,
Zapp,
Barrington Levy,
Sparks,
The Zeros,
Jandek,
The Birthday Party,
Man Eating Sloth,
Amazonics,
X-101,
Little Man,
The Blues Magoos,
The Grass Roots,
Cecil Taylor,
The Litter,
Marmalade,
KRS-One,
Black Bananas,
Masters at Work,
Shuggie Otis,
Animal Collective,
Visage,
Massinfluence,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
The Gap Band,
Cymande,
Warsaw,
Mars,
Nils Olav,
Minor Threat,
Flash Fearless,
Bobby Byrd,
Qualms,
Neil Young & Crazy Horse,
Jacob Miller,
Au Pairs,
Peter and Kerry,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Dead Boys,
Television,
Fear,
Moby Grape,
Absolute Body Control,
The Blackbyrds,
The Count Five,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Kool Moe Dee,
Marc Romboy vs. Booka Shade,
Sun Ra,
Icehouse,
The Sound,
Technova,
Q65,
Excepter,
The Walker Brothers,
Skarface,
Susan Cadogan,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
DJ Sneak,
Black Moon,
Hardrive,
Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes, Wolf Eyes.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.